


silver, gold

by Anonymous



Category: Vinland Saga (Manga)
Genre: Brother/Brother Incest, M/M, Mentioned Age Regression, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:47:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21769363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: An exchange, and a crisis of conscience.
Relationships: Atli/Torgrim (Vinland Saga)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3
Collections: Anonymous





	silver, gold

**Author's Note:**

> I think this one might wrap up the fix-it series for now, but will still be @ vincestsaga for more vs brocontent (´・ω・)ﾉ

Atli knows what's coming a few days beforehand. He wants Torgrim to have the pleasure of anticipating it, though, so he says nothing and pretends not to notice him fidgeting with the pouch at his waist. He makes up a pretext to be out in the woods when it becomes clear his brother won't be comfortable enough anywhere else. They could probably make pretty good claim to own those woods, with how much time they've spent there over the years.

"These are just a formality by now," Torgrim says. "But—" his voice gets low and falters for a moment— "I love you, baby brother. I want you to have one of these from me, even if we can't..." Atli's already holding his hand out, his ring finger free just as it's been for the last few days, and Torgrim laughs when he sees it. "I should've done this back when you were easier to surprise. We must've lifted hundreds of wedding rings right off people's fingers. Never knew it'd be such slow work buying them with honest money."

"You're sure you got my size right?"

"I should think I know your size by now. It's practically the same as mine. That was the main trouble, getting them both in men's sizes. Real custom work." He slides it on as he's talking. They don't need a ceremony, they've already promised everything long ago. And there's no joining of two households, here. "I guess you can't wear it anywhere, but I couldn't stand you just having that—the other ones."

"You keep yours hidden," Atli says. "I'll wear this with the other one when I can."

"Can't trust me to hang onto mine when I change?"

"I want to be the one who gets to wear it, that's all." Atli slides the other one onto Torgrim. "Let me be spoiled. You paid for it, now I get to show it off." He likes to remind his brother that his work brings in real money. It's a sore spot for him at times. "But did you have to pick one that looks better on you than on me?"

"What are you talking about, you look fine in anything." Torgrim huffs good-naturedly and collars him like he used to when they were teenagers. "The most gorgeous boy in the village."

"Only if we take you out of the running." It's good seeing him like this. He would have fussed so badly, once, over who was to be the husband and who the wife. They both would have. But they've had to leave a lot of that behind now, with both of them unmanned in their own ways, and it's become easier to just skip over certain thoughts the way they've done with so much of the wedding ceremony.

The wife and children have probably helped, paradoxically. With Atli solidly _husband_ to the rest of the world, Torgrim can't worry so much about the wifely services he provides. Besides, if he can manage brother and lover at once, husband and wife isn't such a stretch.

And then there's sheer jealousy to thank, of course. Something in the greedy little-brother part of Atli's heart enjoys having his time demanded like this. The part that always worries it's just an accident of birth that your big brother has to let you hang around. He doesn't want Torgrim on bad terms with his family—he separates brother from family like that now, in his mind—but being pulled away from them because he's so _wanted_ is wonderfully, guiltily gratifying.

His brother spins him, and for a second Atli thinks he's going to be lifted

but Torgrim thinks they're getting too old for that, so he just ends the twirl with a dip, both of them a little out of breath.

"I was thinking of your hair the whole time I was choosing, so you'll just have to live with my taste. Are you up for the wedding night, or have I waited on you too long?"

"Not sure I can manage it today. I'll bring you off instead, brother."

It's amazing, how he can hear that word from other people and know exactly what it means to them. What it's supposed to mean. And then his Atli says it to him like that and his knees go weak, after all these years.

"Not so far from where we started out," Atli says, looking around. "And this is all we knew how to do back then, too. Should I leave the ring on?"

"Yeah." He always takes the other one off for this, and there's a savage enjoyment when Torgrim watches it come off. He'll never be the one who looked into Atli's eyes on his wedding day, but he's seen him throw all of that away to come back to the place that really makes him happy. Underneath his one and only big brother.

His little brother, taking off his legal marriage ring so he can put on the gold ring his big brother wants him to be wearing instead. The one he can never really show to anybody else in the world.

And then his legs really do fail him. The next thing he knows Atli is holding his face, patting him a little and talking to him like one of the children. His back's against something. A tree.

"Torgrim. Honey. What's wrong, are you scared?"

"Fine. I'm fine, let go of me."

His brother looks startled, as if he was expecting something else, but he lets go and sits back. "What happened? You just turned white."

"Atli," he says, sagging back against the tree. "Oh, fuck me, I've ruined your life. I should've told you no that first time, it was my job. And now I've put a damned ring on you."

"Yours to ruin." He just looks amused. "That's what I was, from the second I was born."

"Don't be _gentle_ about this, please, I can't bear it. You were such a bright kid and I tied you down to me. You could've given up on me when I got like this, if I'd just told you no. I'm sorry. The only real job I ever had."

"You want me to be rough, then?"

"Stop it. Life's so short. You should have been spending your hours with your wife and kids, not sneaking around with me just because I was too selfish to ever give you up."

"I never wanted to _be_ given up. Come on, I'll manage it after all. The one thing we've never done. Ruin you right back. We'll call it even." Atli laces their fingers together, the rings clinking against each other. "You don't really think I'd trade this for anything, do you, dear?"

He's gentle then, and Torgrim sobs like a baby from how much his brother loves him despite everything, and they clean each other up after like they always do and he feels like a man, walking back to the village with the ring hidden deep away in a pouch, hidden from the whole world except the two of them.

"I wouldn't have tossed you out even if we'd stayed like other brothers," Atli says to him, a little snappish now after all that sweetness. "What do you take me for, anyway? You think I only keep you around because you fuck me sometimes?"

"You worry so much it's starting to rub off on me," Torgrim says, reaching for his hand. Only for a moment, they're nearly at the village. "It was just the shock of seeing it on you, after all these years."

"As if I'd ever give up taking care of you, with all you've done for me." It's all right to walk close together, like they always do, and Atli squeezes his hand back. "But don't get too used to that back there. I like it better being taken care of."

"Of course. Always."

They hold hands a second longer before Atli has to slip his away and hold it against his side, fingers hooked up around his belt to hide that the ring isn't his usual one. But they stay close, as close as they can, and they'll walk on like this through the village, until they reach the house they were born in, together.


End file.
